Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote operation system, and a technique relevant thereto.
Description of the Background Art
Recently, there has been a technique (so-called remote operation technique (remote control technique) with remote connection) for remotely operating a remotely-operated apparatus by using an external terminal such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or the like.
Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette No. 05-122424 (Patent Document 1), for example, discloses a technique for remotely operating an image forming apparatus (remotely-operated apparatus) by using an external terminal. Specifically, in Patent Document 1, data (bitmap image data or the like) itself of an operation screen in the image forming apparatus is transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the external terminal, and the operation screen is displayed on a display part of the external terminal. Then, the image forming apparatus is remotely operated in response to an operation input given to the operation screen and data of a new operation screen in accordance with the operation input is transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the external terminal. Thus, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is possible to remotely operate the image forming apparatus (remotely-operated apparatus) by using the external terminal.
In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, however, since (a relatively large volume of) data of the operation screen is transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the external terminal every time when an operation input is received, there remains a problem that the communication traffic between the image forming apparatus and the external terminal increases.